Building State-Level Resistance to Political Violence
From the Desk of Lynn Davis - JCRC Director
As part of our work to increase civic engagement and support a resilient democracy, the JCRC for Tucson & Southern Arizona recently hosted a half-day community roundtable, followed by a public lecture, with Rachel Brown and Sam Owen of Over Zero.
Over Zero was founded in response to the global need to counteract and prevent identity-based violence and other forms of group-targeted harm. While the organization spent many years working in international conflict areas, they have recently turned their attention to the United States, specifically Ohio and Arizona, to build political violence resilience networks around democracy resilience and election integrity.
Their domestic work, known as Project Over Zero, focuses on states where false narratives and election interference have gained traction, creating risks for democratic processes and threatening civil society. Project Over Zero gathers community leaders across sectors to gain a sense of the risks specific to each state and to identify and build peacebuilding infrastructure.
Our Tucson roundtable included leaders from the business and media communities, multifaith clergy, community organizers, and philanthropists, all eager to create and support local resources that could contribute to state-level resilience.
Rachel’s evening presentation, Communication: A tool for violence, a tool for peace, introduced the ways in which zero-sum messaging aimed at a specific identity group (often framed as “us or them”) can fuel conflict and eventually lead to physical violence. These narratives are part of a larger ecosystem of communication strategies and networks, institutional and historical context, messengers, and audiences. She also shared case studies from around the world where strong leadership, preparation, and effective, intentional messaging had been successful at counteracting harmful narratives. Rachel offered tactics that individuals can employ, including setting norms for respectful communication; creating opportunities for people to gather around shared identities and values; engaging community networks around democracy resilience; “listening to learn;” and employing conflict-sensitive communication that can all help to diffuse tensions and promote peace.
You can view Rachel’s presentation in its entirety on our Youtube channel.
In this era of heightened political rhetoric, election denial, and incidents of antisemitism and other identity-based hatred, robust, respectful communication is key to protecting our democratic processes and safeguarding a civil society. As this work unfolds, the JCRC will engage our Jewish institutions and values in support of a robust democracy, educate our community on key issues, and work with our neighbors around areas of common concern to create a safer, more inclusive world for all.
